Although the Doctor may be gone, the New Adventures continue, with popular companion Professor Bernice Summerfield assuming the lead role. Who better to write the first Benny led NA than her creator Paul Cornell...
The first task in a new or changed series is to introduce the new setting and characters in such a way that it does not bog down the story or seem like a huge info dump. By filling the reader in on the history of St. Oscar's came to be, author Paul Cornell quite efficiently fills in knowledge of the political situation of the 26th century, basic knowledge of the plaent Dellah (which will hopefully be expanded upon in future novels) and the size and structure of the university itself.
With that taken care of, Cornell then introduces us to Benny and her group of students, including her latest crush, Michael Doran. Readers also get introduced to Benny's electronic porter, the smug sounding Joseph; who will no doubt end up becoming a bit of a whipping-droid for cheap put downs. There's also some linkages laid for future New Adventures novels, a practice which I hope will continue in future novels; it will make the range feel more inter-connected and a cohesive whole.
The action then switches to the planet Perfecton, where Benny and her tutorial group are conducting a dig; and a number of other St Oscar's teaching staff are on a junket (nice to know there are some things still the same in the future) but spending much of their time justifying to each other that a trip to Perfecton is indispensible to their discipline.
Of these freeloading Professors, a familiar face in Menlove Stokes (last seen in The Well-Mannered War) has the most plausible justification for being there: to paint landscapes of the surface of Perfecton, using bodily fluids. Stokes is a strange character, who fits in well on Dellah and should hopefully show up in a future stories to add a flamboyant aspect to future adventures.
The story shifts gears when the Benny and her students head back to the Winton, and that ship gets hit by a missile from the planet; just as a pack of Grel decide to attack. It all appears over for Benny, just as things are beginning, with the remaining St Oscar's staffers fleeing into the Perfecton city.
Benny hasn't died however; she's ended up in panto-land, full of comedy Dames, pantomine horses and a thigh-slapping good time. The crew of the Winston are the royal family and Benny's students end up as charicatures, with her crush Michael Doran becoming the dwarf 'Cute'. Wolsey sees the biggest change - he's intelligent, charming, witty and a cat of action. In these sections Cornell gets to show off his depth of knowledge on pantomines, as Benny shifts from Dick to Bernice, through the stories of Dick Whittington, Cinderella and Aladdin. Cornell also makes some topical jokes which now start to seem a bit old, but topical jokes are part and parcel of a good panto. Of particular note is the sheer number of sexual innuedo that gets worked into the story, and how Beeny defuses most of them before they can be said.
The pantomime scenes of Oh No It Isn't move along with pace and energy of a performed pantomime, only taking a rest when Benny gets the chance to think through her current situation and how to deal with it. It's not all fun and games for Benny and her transformed students and cat - the Grel have allied themselves with the villains of panto-land, and the audience have woken up, and they aren't too happy; in fact, the audience is made up of most of the Perfecton race - it seems that their missile penetrated Professor Archduke's thesis on pantomime theatre, which he gave to Benny to read while on her expedition. Rather than creating their new world, the merging with the thesis created the strange world they now all inhabit - a situation nobody wants.
Oh No It Isn't! ends with a huge battle, as Benny and her friends try to restore the Winston and themselves to normal, rescue the remaining academics and escape the Perfecton's sun going supernova; the Grel want to find knowledge; and the Perfecton's want a new home. It all comes down to the sacrifice made by Wolsey, who knows that if he is restored to normal then he will no longer have what he has in panto-land - intelligence, personality and speech. The academics on Pefecton manage to deal with their Grel menace, helped out by a Perfecton named Thoo, a delightful character who remained behind when the other Perfecton's all entered the Green.
There aren't any real villains or heros in Oh No It Isn't, just people trying to live out their lives the best they can; Benny settling into her new life; the Perfecton's quest for a new and stable home; and the Grel, carrying out a generations old instinct. The closest thing to a villain is the mysterious Professor Archduke, whose Pantomime thesis caused events to take place as they did. It will be interesting to see how Archduke develops as a character.
In the end, Oh No It Isn't is an excellent launch novel for the revised New Adventures range, introducing Benny's new situation well, before plunging her into adventure with only her own wits and knowledge to get her through to the end alive and unscathed.
8.3/10
Next time: Benny catches up with Irving Braxitel...